A meeting for WG1, 2 and 4 was held alongside the International Conference of the International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE, https://isae2023.ee/ ) in Tallinn, Estonia. Working group (WG) meetings were taking place across the day, partly in parallel sessions, on 31 July, 2023.
Margit Bak Jensen, Chair of the Action, gave a brief introduction to the project, after which WG1 (on the concept of positive animal welfare) and WG2 (on the methodology of assessing positive animal welfare) held separate meetings. The aim of the meetings was especially to set up the sub working groups. After lunch, WG1 and WG2 joined each other to discuss how they could improve the synergy between the two working groups. Meanwhile, WG4 (dissemination) had its separate meeting related to the communication and dissemination of the Action and on social media techniques. The day closed with a joined wrap-up session in which WG leaders provided summaries of the meetings.
Around 45 Action Members were supported by COST to attend the meeting. Due to the meeting being held alongside the international conference of the ISAE, additional Action Members joined with their own travel arrangements. Approximately, 18 Members joined the WG1 meeting while WG2 saw 30 Members joining. WG2 is the largest working group, and this was therefore reflected in the number of attendees. For WG4 11 Members joined, including those with leadership roles in the established sub working groups.
The feedback from participants showed that it was positive to align the Action’s meeting with an existing conference, both to reduce travel and to increase the possibility of participation for a greater number of Members.
